


I Was a Childhood Nightmare

by greeneyedharpy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 19:57:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3581952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeneyedharpy/pseuds/greeneyedharpy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anakin just wanted to enjoy his freedom. Obi-Wan had other ideas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Was a Childhood Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

  * For [securasapprentice](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=securasapprentice).



Anakin Skywalker was a newly appointed Jedi Knight enjoying his freedom. He had not meditated in days, had gone three meals without eating vegetables of any kind, and had logged more sparring time in the last planetary cycle than any other Jedi in the Temple. This was absolutely the life that he knew he would enjoy living.

"Hey Skywalker," Aayla called from opposite him on the mat, ready and waiting to fight. "You still with me? You know I'd prefer for you to be aware of how badly I'm going to kick your ass." 

Anakin grinned, while a decidedly not inaccurate Obi-Wan sounding head voice drawled that that kind of language was definitely Quinlan's influence. He hoisted the practice saber in front of him, shuffled his feet into a more comfortable stance, and then—

"Anakin, a moment, if you please." This Obi-Wan voice was definitely real and, Anakin was sure determined to ruin his fun.

\---

This was most certainly all Obi-Wan's fault, Anakin decided. He should have known from the beginning that 'I just need your assistance for an hour. Master Vos is unable to help with this particular group of younglings today,' was code for 'I just need a crash test dummy for these monsters to play with, I can't ruin my hair, you see.' It didn't matter that he was a Knight now, he had been informed. Masters Mundi and Windu had agreed that Anakin's involvement sounded like a wonderful idea, and who was Anakin to question the wisdom of two of the Jedi Council's most senior masters? 

After all, these younglings were raised in the peace and tranquility of the Temple. Anakin figured they would be much more like Obi-Wan than him, who—he would admit—had been something of a rebellious terror age six. Then again, this was the Obi-Wan Kenobi whose eyes were twinkling with mirth, who was barely even trying to look sympathetically towards Anakin, drenched from his 'fall' into the Pond of Tranquility and Reflection in the meditation garden Obi-Wan had selected for their class. It was categorically not funny. Anakin had the sneaking suspicion he'd been set up. 

"Oh Anakin," Obi-Wan said in his best attempt to smother a growing smile. "You mustn't be such a wet blanket about these things." 

Around him, swarms of younglings burst into giggles. This was planned. It has to have been. No one ever laughed at Obi-Wan's terrible attempts at humour. Puns simply weren't funny. He hoisted himself off the ground and took a few steps towards his former master before he shook himself off, delighting in the way the children giggled harder.

Obi-Wan fixed him with an entirely un-Jedi-like look that suggested that Anakin would find himself in trouble if he was not careful. Anakin smiled placidly. It was all he could do in these situations. Then he turned back to the younglings, who were watching them with wide open smiles, waiting for the next move. 

"Okay," Anakin tried again. "This time, let's focus on the rock over here, not me."

It should have been the easiest thing in the world. Anakin had seen Master Yoda do the same in the Temple to great success. It was a lesson he'd learned himself the hard way, less than a month after becoming Obi-Wan's Padawaan. Even now, ten year's later, he'd catch himself looking at the pebbles balanced carefully on top of the boulder and hear Master Yoda's gentle guidance, 'size matters not. Judge me by my size, do you?' 

"Think only of the rock," Obi Wan added, coming to stand beside Anakin. Together, they both reached out with their hands. Although Anakin had tried his hardest to stand on his own two feet since his Trials, it was comforting to know that the connection between them was still there, an unbreakable bond of family.

"Feel how the Force surrounds it," Anakin intoned in his best impersonation of Obi-Wan, and the connection between them warmed. Although he could sense the amusement rolling off Obi-Wan in waves, he knew his former master didn't mind. It was the only way Anakin knew how to teach. "Reach out along the connection. Feel the rock in your hand."

All together, the younglings raised their hands, small faces screwed in concentration. The boulder in front of them began to shudder, moving from side to side on the ground. Anakin was halfway turned to Obi-Wan, smug smile firmly on place, when they heard Artoo's uncertain whistle. Anakin's triumphant crow died on his lips.

Moments later, the confused droid drifted into sight, spinning uselessly in mid-air. Anakin sighed.

"Droids are not toys. Put him down." The giggles chorused once more, underscored by Obi-Wan's satisfied chuckle. This had to be some sort of revenge scheme for one of the many imagined slights Obi-Wan never let him forget about. Anakin dreaded the day he decided to take a Padawaan. He was sure Obi-Wan had written down all of Anakin's tricks to one day get revenge. 

Anakin took a deep breath, bringing his focus back to the present. Plucking Artoo out of the younglings' grasps was easy. He ignored their disappointed groans and sat him gently on the ground, smiling at the stream of indignant beeps and whistles.

"Master," Anakin said with all the patience he could muster, "Perhaps this little exercise would be more efficient if we split the group in two? That way each youngling could receive more focused, individual attention."

Obi-Wan fixed Anakin with the kind of look that said he was 100% not at all buying this reasoning, but nodded his consent, selecting half of the younglings to follow him to the other side of the pond, where more rocks sat, waiting to be lifted by the Force. 

"Master?" A small voice asked, coming from the little human boy tugging at his robes. "We can move the rock now?"

Anakin wasn't sure if it had been removing Obi-Wan from the equation that made the younglings slightly more malleable, but if it was, he wasn't going to complain. With only six of them now to deal with, he lined them up hastily around their rock, and attempted the lesson again, spirits buoyed by the newfound cooperation the younglings displayed.   
   
"Stretch out with your minds," Anakin said, moving slowly around the outside of the circle of younglings. "Reach all the way along the connection. Imagine closing your hand around the rock." As they tried again, the rock shifted in place, jumping and dancing in place. "Imagine lifting the rock," Anakin prompted, "as if it weighed nothing at all."

Very slowly, the rock stopped moving erratically and lifted slowly off the ground. The only problem was, Anakin went with it. 

"Put me down," Anakin said firmly, trying his hardest to return himself to the ground while under the control of six—probably evil—younglings. The result being that he found himself jerked around like a rag doll, headache growing stronger and stronger by the second.

"That's enough for today," Obi-Wan called, coming to Anakin's rescue and looking far too smug about it. The younglings released Anakin instantly. "Master Windu will be along to collect you in a moment. Go outside and stand in two lines."

Anakin slumped to the ground with a defeated whimper, watching how obediently the children filed out of the room. He sighed. "Sure, you they listen to." 

Obi-Wan laughed and offered Anakin his hand, pulling him to his feet before he clapped him on the back as if they were wizened old comrades. "That makes us even now, after the business on Bothawui?" His tone brooked no argument, so Anakin merely bowed his head, which had the added benefit of concealing a small smile. His master had missed him. 

"Let's go then," Obi-Wan said, nudging Anakin moving. 

"Where are we going, Master?" Anakin asked.

Obi-Wan's smile spread across his features, And suddenly Anakin was sure he knew what his former master was about to say. "It's time I let you in on a time-old tradition. We are going for a drink."


End file.
